While the world only began to find out about David Kato within the last three years of his life, much of what is traceable about him resides chronologically within the last 13 years of his life, from his return to Uganda in 1998 at the age of 34 to his murder in January at the age of 46.

Before 1998, he spent an indeterminate number of years as a teacher in South Africa. At the time of his return, Nelson Mandela was just about to complete his only term as the first black president of the country and turn the gavel over to his Deputy president Thabo Mbeki, and Uganda was just sending its troops into the Democratic Republic of Congo to back a rebel group in the deadliest conflict in Africa since World War II. Since 1994, the South African government was putting forth a series of measures decriminalizing many aspects of LGBT life in the country, including a 1998 measure for prohibition of labor discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Kato was cited by a few reports as having participated in anti-apartheid activities before it was dismantled, but the details are extremely murky because of a lack of available date placements for his participation in South African anti-apartheid activities.

So fining some more specific details on Kato’s life pre-1998 would help.